Compendium of Tire Reviews: Please sticky

[gcoonley]

Hi VTGT, I am getting about 22K miles out of my Kumho ECSTA ASX.

 

Just a note though, if you go with these, higher pressure is better. I was only

marginally happy with them until I cranked up the pressure to 37 front and 35 rear.

 

It is like a different tire with the high pressure. But they will scare the crap out of you if the temp gets below 40.

[VTGT]

I personally get the replacement warranty, as when I have had flats, they tend to be in the sidewall which is not repairable. DT just replaced one tire I had, no questions asked. I forget the mileage on them, but it was after about a year on summer tires.

 

Long-lasting summer tires? Kind of a contradiction in terms. A good summer tire will not last too long. Nonetheless, a couple of suggestions are the Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 (I had these, worked well), the BFG KDW and the GY GS-D3 (friends had these, worked well for them).

 

Yeah I realize that a good summer tire will not last too long. I just wish I could get two years full years out of tires. I guess the saying of, I can't have my cake and eat it holds true. I have been soon used to summer performance it is almost hard to go back to an A/S tire.

 

I have been buying tires slightly used and I have realized that it really does not make any sense. Sure initially it cost less, but once I factor in the time and cost of mounting and balancing them it is not really worth it, because the rate in which I replace tires is much higher than if I started with a brand new tire with full tread.

 

I have always loved the BFG KDW tread pattern and they have a tread wear of 300, so that is nice as well. Although, I know that you cannot compare treadwears across different brands I bet they would last at least 20k with no track miles. I liked my Goodyear asymmetrics but they got noisey as hell once they started wearing. I had passengers ask if my diffs were going bad. It was a terrible hum.

 

I guess if I really wanted to be cost effective I could just get a longer lasting A/S tire like the Bridgestone Re960's. People rave about them on here. I just do not know if I want to beat my Prodrives up on mountain roads during the winter......

[SBT]

I run the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - phenomenal handling in all conditions (short of full-blown deep snow), long-wearing (30K+) and reasonably quiet through the full tread wear. Just a great all-around tire.

 

FWIW - I usually replace tires as a set to keep the AWD system happy and don't spend the extra money on replacement warranties. That said, I did replace 1 tire when I hit a pothole and fractured the rim and blew-out the sidewall. I'd only had the tires on for about a month so I'd lost < 1/32 off the tread and could stay within the 1/4" circumference variance S-to-S/F-to-R. In that case DT applied Michelin's warranty and replaced the tire for the price of the dismount/remount. That's also the point in time when I replaced the donut spare with a full-size MPS AS spare.

[praedet]

Yeah I realize that a good summer tire will not last too long. I just wish I could get two years full years out of tires. I guess the saying of, I can't have my cake and eat it holds true. I have been soon used to summer performance it is almost hard to go back to an A/S tire.

 

I have been buying tires slightly used and I have realized that it really does not make any sense. Sure initially it cost less, but once I factor in the time and cost of mounting and balancing them it is not really worth it, because the rate in which I replace tires is much higher than if I started with a brand new tire with full tread.

 

I have always loved the BFG KDW tread pattern and they have a tread wear of 300, so that is nice as well. Although, I know that you cannot compare treadwears across different brands I bet they would last at least 20k with no track miles. I liked my Goodyear asymmetrics but they got noisey as hell once they started wearing. I had passengers ask if my diffs were going bad. It was a terrible hum.

 

I guess if I really wanted to be cost effective I could just get a longer lasting A/S tire like the Bridgestone Re960's. People rave about them on here. I just do not know if I want to beat my Prodrives up on mountain roads during the winter......

Try the Vredestein's I am running. The folks on the Corvette and Camao boards are getting almos 30K out of them

 

And they are as good as the Goodyear's as far as I can tell so far...

[VTGT]

^That is impressive. Where is the best place to buy them? Are the sidewalls stiffer than the goodyears or about the same?

[praedet]

They are stiffer for turn-in, but the ride hasn't seemed to change much. Might be because I went narrower...

 

Link from my post...

 

Check around though. Their price has gone up by $5 a tire. There are cheaper places per tire, but the shipping to CO from those places was bad...

[VTGT]

I run the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - phenomenal handling in all conditions (short of full-blown deep snow), long-wearing (30K+) and reasonably quiet through the full tread wear. Just a great all-around tire.

 

FWIW - I usually replace tires as a set to keep the AWD system happy and don't spend the extra money on replacement warranties. That said, I did replace 1 tire when I hit a pothole and fractured the rim and blew-out the sidewall. I'd only had the tires on for about a month so I'd lost < 1/32 off the tread and could stay within the 1/4" circumference variance S-to-S/F-to-R. In that case DT applied Michelin's warranty and replaced the tire for the price of the dismount/remount. That's also the point in time when I replaced the donut spare with a full-size MPS AS spare.

 

For cost savings sake, I might just go the A/S route for the next two years. The Michelin's Pilot Sports seem to get great reviews. Where have you found the best price(s) for this tire?

 

Anybody else have any great experience with an A/S that has not been mentioned. I have been spoiled with summer tire performance for the past two years

[SBT]

For cost savings sake, I might just go the A/S route for the next two years. The Michelin's Pilot Sports seem to get great reviews. Where have you found the best price(s) for this tire?

 

Anybody else have any great experience with an A/S that has not been mentioned. I have been spoiled with summer tire performance for the past two years

 

I believe they are the #1 rated A/S UHPAS tire on Tire Rack (TR) and they well-deserve that rating. When I upgraded to the 18" I bought them from TR. Shipped price was less than I could find locally and it only took them a day to get them here from Lost Wages (LV, NV), then had them mounted at my local Discount Tire (DT). I bought the two pairs of 17" from DT, where they not only price-matched local competitors, but threw in life-time balancing and rotation to keep my business.

 

I've had short experience with Conti Extreme Contact but the MPS AS far exceeded the CECes in every dimension. I also have RE960s on my 98 LGT (BD) and they are also stellar performers, but truly believe that my 05 LGTW would overwhelm them and I wouldn't be as happy with them as I am on the NA 98 LGT. Just my experience and thoughts.

[stash360]

#1) Continental Extreme Contact DWS (All-season) 235/50/18 (Outback XT)

 

#2) What is your geographic location: Atlanta, GA

 

#3) Spirited Commutes

 

#4) Percent of highway vs. city driving: I'd say I'm in the City 40%.

 

#5) Tires used previously: Kumho ASX

 

#6) Right away I can tell the Extreme Contacts have stiffer sidewalls than the ASXs. Steering response is already livelier. And understeer seems to be reduced—I'm guessing it's from the reduction in sidewall flex.

 

These tires look great and have a longer treadwear (50,000 Miles) than the ASXs. I'll follow this up with a more detailed review after I get more miles on them.

[PutnamCO]

#1) 225/45/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3 XL. I paid $710 mounted with pricematching and $150 in rebates.

I have driven less than 2000 miles on these tires.

 

#2) I live in Denver, CO

 

#3) I use my car as a daily driver for very spirited driving and have gone to the track twice with these tires for a total of about 80-90 miles.

 

#4) 1/3 City, 2/3 Highway driving

 

#5) Tires used previously: Sumitomo HRTZ III. The Goodyears are much, much grippier, but slightly less predictable at the limits on dry pavement. The Goodyears are night and day better in wet, both on slightly wet roads and in heavy rain. Similar road noise levels.

 

#6) I bought these tires specifically for the track, and initially loved them. The rubber is very soft and extremely grippy. I did find that at the limits on dry pavement (particularly with an air temperature over 90) they were slightly unpredictable, probably due to the soft rubber. In wet conditions, this tire is amazing. When the road was slightly wet, there was almost no difference in performance (when driving below 7/10's). At the limit in wet, these tires were very predictable, maybe even more so than when on dry pavement. As a street tire, I would highly recommend them.

 

I was planning on buying coilovers in the near future when the tires were purchased, and thus did not have an optimal negative camber set up (nor was it out of spec). I thought I could make it to a couple track days before buying the coilovers. After the second day, I looked at my front left tire and noticed a large chunk out of the outer edge of the tread. After inspecting both front tires, I found about 4, similar, nickel-sized chunks out of the same region on both front tires. I immediately brought the car in to Goodyear to see if there was any way this could be a manufacturers defect. I was told "the tread in that area (outer edge) is really thin, and once it's gone, the tire is just going to sort of fall apart like that". I know I am stupid for not having the right camber set up at the track, but to me, no tire should become completely unusable after less than 2000 miles, no matter how it is driven. Especially one advertised for "Ultra high spirited driving".

[Guest]

Yup, two of my F1 GSD3 ended life in the same manner. Simple skid pad killed them, and indeed I didn't have overly aggressive camber at time (just -0.6 deg only). Luckily I had set of 6, so I kept driving on the remaining four.

 

Will never buy F1s again, Dunlop Z1 is worlds better tire.

[olennyboy]

Yokohamms (avid)

new joisey

 

mostly highway (up to vermont and back) %80

 

 

bridgestone prev. used (boooo)

 

the yokies are a quiet, well cornering tire with good longevity (i am at 20k): so-so in mush / slush & in snow (i use snow tires for vt/jersey range of winters)

 

tire rack as been berry berry good to me and hghly recommended.

[nm]

Yeah I realize that a good summer tire will not last too long. I just wish I could get two years full years out of tires. I guess the saying of, I can't have my cake and eat it holds true. I have been soon used to summer performance it is almost hard to go back to an A/S tire.

This is why I have a set of cheap but good summer rubber (HTR Z III) on OEM wheels.

For track/auto-x I have some high-end streets (RE-01Rs at the moment) on by SSR comps.

Best of both worlds. The sumitomos have 10k mi on them and look brand new. They grip better than any all season and are much cheaper.

Then i have some proper sticky tires for when it matters. Plus now that I don't have to worry about the street, I can run the summers down below 4/32s without having rain issues.

[fishbone]

I run the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - phenomenal handling in all conditions (short of full-blown deep snow), long-wearing (30K+) and reasonably quiet through the full tread wear. Just a great all-around tire.

Are they the Plus or the "regular" Pilot Sports? Have you thrown them around in deep snow? How do they do?

I might be getting these tires very soon to replace my cupped Eagle F1 AS.

[polatinte]

Here's a review from TireRack of summer tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=118

[SBT]

Are they the Plus or the "regular" Pilot Sports? Have you thrown them around in deep snow? How do they do?

I might be getting these tires very soon to replace my cupped Eagle F1 AS.

 

Sorry FB - been relocating to the East Coast the past two weeks and haven't had a chance to catch-up with all the threads.

 

Current versions are 225/40x18 standard (non-Plus) versions, previous two sets were 225/45x17 also standard versions. All three sets have seen relatively deep/wet/heavy snow (pushing snow) and some substantial ice-driving in the SoCal mountains. "How do they do?" In a word: Excellent - In all driving conditions. Superb winter tire, phenomenal in the dry and equally excellent in the wet.

 

Last week, came through Tropical Storm Ida all the way from Mississippi to Georgia with a 1200 lb trailer in tow and all I can say is I never had a handling/stopping/going issue in gale force winds, driving rain, and significant standing water at highway speeds. And these things wear like rhino hide, and do so with limited road noise.

 

Just run them at 36 (or 37) psi Front and 34 (or 35) psi Rear (keeping the +2 psi front bias), and alignment settings of Toe: 0* all around, Camber: -.75* Front and -1.0* Rear (w/0* cross-camber) and you'll have no issues with camber wear. Will be replacing this set with a "Plus" set when these finally get "done". HTH with your decision.

[fishbone]

^Had to go with another set of F1 A/S. The cupped ones were replaced free of charge per the silent recall issued by GoodYear. I wonder if I should post a review of them since they have seen 4 seasons.

[fishbone]

Eh, what the heck, here goes.

1) Tires: Eagle F1 All-season 215/45R17, driven for a full year, 20K miles

2) Location: Nebraska

3) Type of driving: commute, street driving with some gravel roads every now and then

4) Percent of highway vs. city driving: 80% city, 20% hwy

5) Tires used previously: stock Bridgestone RE92

6) Your review and personal comments:

Tire inflation always maintained at 35PSI front, 33PSI rear as per owner's manual.

I will begin by saying I do not consider myself a tire connaiseur or a person that has experienced many makes/models.

All 4 F1 tires were cupped due to a manufacturer defect and were replaced prematurely at 20K miles with 9/32 tread wear all around. At 12K miles they started sounding like a washing machine on high spin cycle, noise most prominent between 38-42mph. They have been replaced by GoodYear at no cost to me part of a silent recall. I had to go with the same set, if I were allowed to switch I would have gotten a set of Michelin Pilot Sport AS Plus. The F1s have been redesigned so hopefully I will not have the cupping and noise problem again. These were purchased at Sam's Club for $140 a tire, they are now up to $160 or so. The Pilot Sports are $180 a tire. Sam's is much cheaper than other tire places I went to (Firestone, Graham Tire).

 

Winter

The F1s are a night and day difference to the stockers. Nebraska gets some deep snow. They have seen snow deep enough for my car to be dragging in it and have performed great.

On the stock tires, leaving from a stoplight in fresh snow meant I had to be very light and carefull with the throttle, otherwise the tail would get happy. The awd system would actually be counter-productive in this situation, FWD cars would leave with less effort or struggle than me sometimes. The 5EAT drivetrain is slightly RWD biased (44.3% front, 55.7% rear) and that didn't help matters. This problem completey went away on the F1s. Instead of the rear pushing more than the fronts would pull, the car now just moves forward evenly and securely. Making a u-turn on the REs meant an almost assured slide, on the F1s I actually have to try to get the tail to break loose.

 

Wet

Great performance here too. The tires feel very secure at all speeds. I have driven in heavy rain on the interstate north of 75mph and the car felt very secure and connected to the road.

 

Dry

Amazing grip, the stockers would squeal and protest in turns taken at higher speed, these just maintain grip and go.

 

Ride/comfort

Noisier than the stockers but not by much. Stiffer ride as well, which is to be expected from high performance tires.

The biggest improvement I have felt which I absolutely love is driving feel. I can feel when I go over cracks, small bumps, etc. I know this sounds bad but the ride is not stiff, it just offers very good feedback, something that I value because I absolutely hate feeling like I glide over the surface of the road. Personally once I got these tires I felt like the car took a step towards BMW's road feel.

 

Final thoughts

I got these tires because I wanted a set of all-seasons that performed better in snow and dry than touring tires and they have not disappointed. At the time I got them I do not think the Pilot Sport Plus were available, which according to some tests are marginally better than the Eagle F1s. If I were given a choice now, considering how much I've gone through in order to properly diagnose the noise problem, I would not go with another set of these. That being said, the new redesigned ones should not have the cupping problem and you can't go wrong with a set of these.

Edited November 18, 2009 by fishbone

[blakout]

#1) Sumitomo HTR+ 215/45 zr17 all-season

 

#2) North New Jersey where it actually snows

 

#3) a very aggresive 45 mile commute each way to work

 

#4) 90% highway

 

#5) crappy stockers

 

#6) Got the tires put on 2 days before xmas and have put roughly 500 miles on them already. Amazing in heavy slush since we just had about 5 inches of snow rained out. Drove saturday night on roads with about .5" of ice and I didnt even notice it. I did turn sideways when I was going about 65 up a mountain and hit heavy heavy salt and gravel, I really dont think it was the tires it was just the conditions. Drove through some light rain and didnt have a problem. My driveway has been pretty horrible from this winter so far and I havent slipped once. Overall I am extremely happy with these tires and would recommend them to everyone as they were recommended to me from a local shop in NJ. We ordered them through tirerack on a closeout price of 74/tire and they are worth every penny + more. When installed they were put at recommended pressure, but I am thinking of maybe increasing it by about 5 psi since the tires are pretty soft and I am afraid of rolling one over.

Edited December 28, 2009 by blakout

[VTGT]

Sorry FB - been relocating to the East Coast the past two weeks and haven't had a chance to catch-up with all the threads.

 

Current versions are 225/40x18 standard (non-Plus) versions, previous two sets were 225/45x17 also standard versions. All three sets have seen relatively deep/wet/heavy snow (pushing snow) and some substantial ice-driving in the SoCal mountains. "How do they do?" In a word: Excellent - In all driving conditions. Superb winter tire, phenomenal in the dry and equally excellent in the wet.

 

Last week, came through Tropical Storm Ida all the way from Mississippi to Georgia with a 1200 lb trailer in tow and all I can say is I never had a handling/stopping/going issue in gale force winds, driving rain, and significant standing water at highway speeds. And these things wear like rhino hide, and do so with limited road noise.

 

Just run them at 36 (or 37) psi Front and 34 (or 35) psi Rear (keeping the +2 psi front bias), and alignment settings of Toe: 0* all around, Camber: -.75* Front and -1.0* Rear (w/0* cross-camber) and you'll have no issues with camber wear. Will be replacing this set with a "Plus" set when these finally get "done". HTH with your decision.

 

I am probably getting some Michellin Pilot Sport Plus for the next beast

 

A few qs:

-How deep was the snow and how bad was the ice?

-What is the average amount of miles you get out of them?

-Do you think they would be pretty good in the snow with a RWD car as well?

[SBT]

i am probably getting some michellin pilot sport plus for the next beast

 

a few qs:

 

How deep was the snow and how bad was the ice?

 

• 6-8" of untouched wet snow on ice - no problems, good traction, stopping and going.
  
• 1/2"-3/4" of black ice with no snow - didn't know I was on black ice until I went to accelerate - then had wheel spin, but still had good control. Very tractable and car snapped back to on-center with no issues.
  
  
• 1-2" of dry snow on 1/2" of ice - drivable/manageable unless pushed through turns - but these are the most dangerous conditions so be prudent and don't push the car - tires will get you through
  
• 6-10" of thrashed snow with some ice - good traction, stopping and going
  

What is the average amount of miles you get out of them?

 

• 1st set of 17s probably had 25k plus and would have easily gone to 35k, but replaced them because winter was coming on and we were expecting more rain/snow that normal so bought a replacement set. 2nd set of 17s still looks new - have never used the full-size 17" MPS AS spare
  
• 18s have been on since February and have about 15k on them including a major cross-country trip, towing the aforementioned trailer. Tire wear is even and I expect to get 35k out of this set before i look to replace them
  

Do you think they would be pretty good in the snow with a RWD car as well?

 

• I'd put them on as long as you put them at all four corners and you don't have major offset and size differences front-to-rear, i.e., bmw m3 comes to mind
  
  
• They really track well, and the front/rear combo compliments the handling across-the-board
  

HTH

[brooklyngenius]

#1) Falken Azenis R615

 

#2) Houston, TX

 

#3) Commute and heavy Highway play

 

#4) 50-50

 

#5) stock

 

#6) tires grab everything like slicks. feels like train tracks. I havent been able to bust these loose like the stock tires. we'll have to see how they wear though

[VTGT]

 

• I'd put them on as long as you put them at all four corners and you don't have major offset and size differences front-to-rear, i.e., bmw m3 comes to mind
  
  
• They really track well, and the front/rear combo compliments the handling across-the-board
  

 

The car will be bmw and the sizes would be around 255/40/19 front and 285/35/19 rear

[instantfury]

just literally got a set of primewell pz900's. former tire kuhmo asx's. ill upload some pics later on, but so far so good. 68 bucks a tire so ill prob get what i paid for.

[pachilla]

#1) Bridgestone Potenza RE050A 225-45-19 at 10K miles

 

#2) Taipei, Taiwan (roads here suck!!!)

 

#3) Commute Only

 

#4) 30 highway / 70 city

 

#5) Yokohama G900 215-55-17 (stock rubber on Outback 3.0R)

 

#6) Out of 10: Dry 8.5 , wet 9, and snow N/A,

 

Very comfortable for UHP tire, quiet too, except on certain road surfaces of the highway.